I don’t know how it happened, but somehow us Christians have accepted a hierarchy of sins. The hierarchy says there are three sets: 1) sins that are terrible, 2) sins that are bad but everybody kinda does them, and 3) sins that are “bad” though seldom viewed as such. Set one includes things like murder, rape, theft, fornication, spousal abuse, etc. Generally, these are the sins that are the easiest for a good Christian to avoid, especially if they are in a close Christian community. Set two is this squishey middle of gossip, lust, greed, self-loathing, crude speech, anger, jealousy, etc. These are the sins that are easy for a good Christian to hide, especially if they are aware of Christian culture. The third category is where the sins of worldly conformation fall. This category includes things like buying into the world’s value system, finding worth in non-Christ things, always striving to make your name great, comparing yourself to others, and anxiety, among others. I’d like to focus this discussion on the sin of anxiety.
Anxiety is a sin. Other words for anxiety include worry, nervousness, angst, fear, fearfulness, and panic attacks. Passages that have prohibitions against anxiety include Matthew 6, Philippians 4, and Jeremiah 17. Jesus, Paul, and Jeremiah all prohibit anxiety. Interestingly, Paul also uses this term “anxious” in his instruction to men and women about marriage in 1 Cor. 7, and Paul even says that he wants to send Epaphroditus to Phillipi so that Paul “may be less anxious” (Ph. 2:28). Let me define terms.
There is anxiety of the mind and anxiety of the heart. Anxiety of the mind is the awareness of an undesirable circumstance and the desire to avert the consequences. For example, if you leave work without an umbrella and on your way to work it begins to downpour, it is appropriate to feel a certain level of anxiety knowing that you will have to walk through the downpour and be drenched for your 9:00am meeting. It is human and appropriate to exhibit some anxiety (or maybe better: concern) due to a circumstance that forces you to deal with the consequences. This is not sin. If I drive to the airport just in time to board the plane and realize I forgot my wallet at home, there is an appropriate level of concern that will happen to me. Anxiety of the mind is not sin.
Anxiety of the heart is a disbelief in the providential hand of God which is manifested in many ways. It is a doubting of God’s character. It is the belief that something other than God has power and control at that moment in time. Anxiety happens when something other than God becomes more important in your heart, thus anxiety is idolatry. Here are a few examples.
In the Old Testament the Israelites were especially tempted to worship the god Baal. Ever wonder why? Where Israel is located in the Middle East it is imperative for the flourishing of their crops and, subsequently, the Jewish people for it to rain consistently. Israel has very few rivers and water sources, so rain was crucial. Rain too late and the seeds wouldn’t take to the ground, rain in the harvest and the grain would spoil. No rain and there is no food. The provision of rain is even one of the blessings of obedience given to Israel in Deuteronomy 28. It is promised by God. The Israelite temptation to worship Baal was so attractive because Baal was the pagan god of rain, fertility, and agriculture. He was the pagan god that determined if it rained. So, when the spring came the Israelites would wait for rain. Sometimes they might wait, and wait, and it would begin to be the time what rain is needed and still not rain would come. At that time Israel’s temptation to offer sacrifices to Baal was the strongest, for the Israelites doubted the character of God and became anxious. Their sin of anxiety propelled them to greater and greater levels of sin and wickedness that included sins of the squishy middle (anger, greed [Amos 4]) and the wicked extremes (child sacrifice [2Kings 17] and temple prostitution [1Kings 14] ). The Israelite’s desire for security and control were more important in their hearts than patience for the hand of God so they acted out of their anxiety.
Let us now look at Jesus’ teaching on anxiety found in Matthew 6:25-34. Jesus tells his listeners not to be anxious about their lives, what they will eat, drink, or their body, or what we wear. He focuses on two specific worries: food and clothing. The Sermon on the Mount was given to a large group of working poor, those that had jobs but still experienced difficulty making the ends meet, but I do not believe that most of his hearers were literally starving or were so poor that they were almost naked because they could not afford clothing. This was during the Pax Romana, or the period of peace in the Roman Empire, which was characterized by prosperity. Don’t get me wrong, there was a real threat of going hungry and of lacking food and clothing, but I don’ think the pith of this teaching is about staying clothed and alive. This is the case because Jesus asks “Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” In reality the body is not “more than food” because no food = no life. And the body is more than clothing, but you can’t walk around naked and still function as a member of society. Jesus even says not to worry about what you will drink, but there was no real worry in Jesus’ time of thirsting to death because there were many public wells that anyone could draw from. So, what is Jesus saying?
I believe Jesus is saying something deep to their heart, past the simple visceral elements of worry to their situation as the working-class in Israel. Food is a huge part of the Israelite culture in that day. Who you dined with, how you dined, and what you had to eat determined who you were in society. Any given time I can eat meat, use exotic spices, take my pick of fresh fruits and vegetables, but a first century Israelite could not. They most likely only had meat during the special Jewish festivals. Society says that their inability to afford delicacies makes them less valuable, for if your meal included meats, spices, nuts, dried fruit, vegetables, and wine, you were valuable. If your meal included bread and water, you were less valuable. Here Jesus is proposing something totally different.
If you have ever watched birds feed, you know that it is one of the most mirthful sites in nature. They flitter and flit from branch to branch, bush to bush, chipping and chirping as they chomp on seeds, berries, and whatever else they can find. They look jubilant as they eat their seed. Jesus points to these birds, explaining that all they do is show up to the field and there is food. Their Heavenly Father is so kind to these birds that he provides food for them even though they don’t do anything to deserve it. The birds don’t work for their food, but because God is so kind, good, and providential he provides for them. Then Jesus poses this question: “Are you not of more value than they?” Look at the birds and how they feast on seeds with such mirth and contentment because God feeds them. Of course, people are much more valuable than birds, infinitely more. If God is so caring, loving, and in control to feed the birds, how much more will he feed people! Our value is not dependent upon what we eat but who feeds us.
Now to clothing. Like previously mentioned, all of these people had clothes to wear. They had fabric that covered their bodies, but most likely they owned two articles of clothing: a tunic and a cloak. A tunic is basically the part of clothing that touches the skin and a cloak is an overcoat/wrap thing. Jesus’ hearers were not thinking, “Oh, I hope I will have enough money to buy another cloak before this one becomes so threadbare that my body will be exposed!” This was not what they were thinking. Clothing is the first thing someone sees when they see a person and is the most significant personal expression. In almost all cultures what a person wears tells a lot about the person. If I see a man walking down the street in a mishmash of clothes, all not matching, many torn and tattered, I will make immediate judgment about that man and about his ability to contribute to society. Most of Jesus’ hearers could only afford simple, drab, unadorned apparel. His hearers were plain-clothed people. This is the issue that Jesus is trying to get at. Many of his hearers were blue-collar workers working in the fields and other crafts. They didn’t have the nicest clothes and the clothes that they did have were probably dirty often. So, when a wealthy man saw a peasant farmer with his plain and dirty attire, the peasant would feel ashamed, devalued, insignificant, and desiring of better clothing. Remember the scandalous lavishness of Joseph’s coat of many colors? A garment of color and beauty was the envy of all poor people, not because having a garment with color was great by itself, but Jesus’ hearers wanted to experience what it would be like to walk down the street and have people know that you are a significant person because your clothes say so.
Jesus draws his hearers’ attention to the fields ornate with brilliant flowers covering the hillside. A new shirt holds nothing to a field of spring flowers or a dogwood tree in bloom. Even Solomon’s wardrobe is dull compared to a single flower. Jesus says that the flowers don’t make their clothes or work for them but God kindly blesses them with outstanding colors to give them special qualities and to draw the eye to their splendor. He does this even though each year the flower dies, or is cut and thrown into a fire to be consumed. Think about it, the vegetation with the least external significance is usually the most colorful. If God is going to do such a magnificent thing for the flowers that wither and fade, how much more will God do for his children? How much more ornate will we be? God is in the business of taking the plain and making it prodigious.
Jesus questions the audience, saying “31Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the Gentiles seek after all these things”. The Gentiles are those outside the faith, or the pagan worshipper. When Jesus says that the Gentiles seek after these things he is contrasting the Christian’s relationship with the divine and the pagan’s relationship with the divine. Jesus exhort his hearers to believe that God is really who he says he is in the Scriptures, a benevolent, loving, compassionate, powerful, and in-charge God that what to do good things for his people coupled with an uninhibited ability to do these things. A “Gentile” would have believed in a pantheon of gods, each responsible for different areas of life. These gods are like superhumans, but they have a propensity for forgetfulness, to capriciousness, and ineptitude. The Gentile must make certain that he has sacrificed the right amount at the right time to the right god with hopes that god will come through. The Gentile has no basis for confidence in being provided food, water, and clothes from his gods. The Christian, on the other hand, should have unequivocal confidence in God’s provision for his people. Remember the Exodus? Jesus is calling his hearers to believe that God is who he says he is and to rest in that belief.
Now a personal example. I feel like most people see me as a guy that kind of has his “life in order.” I get up early, go to work, do school, never turn in a late assignment, lead a disciplined life, and have even been known to tuck in my shirt. I’ve never been to jail, I’ve never had my electric shut off and I take a shower every day. Though I live my life under control and work to always orient my life around and under Jesus Christ and his salvific power through the Gospel, I still struggle with the sin of anxiety. Anxiety can manifest itself in many ways, and it manifests itself most clearly in me through claustrophobia. I’ve never been a big fan of close spaces but it has not been until recently that it has become a caustic presence. About six months ago I went to Nicaragua to meet my dad at an orphanage and school his church sponsors. I boarded a plane in Raleigh that would take me straight to Miami and then to Nicaragua and I boarded with my backpack on my shoulders when the desk clerk called for boarding. As I was on the plane waiting to get to my seat my shoulders began to feel tight, my chest began to feel like it had a weight on it, and then I realized I was short of breath. “I think this is a panic attack” I told myself. When I got to my seat I was on the verge of hysteria, literally a moment away from running off the plane like a crazed maniac and missing my opportunity to serve in another country. I called my mom and she prayed for me and the man I sat next to used to experience similar anxiety so he coached me through it (ironically, a nonbeliever).
When I got off the plane in Miami I had a three hour layover that I utilized to pray about why I experienced what I experienced. The Lord revealed this to me: I was not afraid of running out of air but I was afraid of what other people would think if I freaked out. I was concerned of what my family and friends would think when I told them I couldn’t take the simple situation of being on a plane. I just don’t like close spaces, and that’s fine. What is not fine is the belief that God will not sustain and provide for me during a time of discomfort and uncertainty, and the necessity to have everyone think I’ve got it all together. I clung tightly to my idol of others thinking well of me, and I believed that God would not provide and I must take care of my situation because God could not. This anxiety was idolatry. I believed in myself more than in God, and I valued other’s thoughts of me more than God’s.
Having physical appearance as an idol will cause anxiety when ageing comes. Money as an idol will cause anxiety when financial hardship comes. A relationship as an idol will cause anxiety when the relationship is on the rocks. Mental perspicuity as an idol will cause anxiety when around people smarter than you. Leisure as an idol will cause anxiety when a full time job, kids, and a spouse presses in. Family as an idol will cause anxiety when the family disperses. Morality as an idol will cause anxiety when you sin and have to hide it from everyone. Societal position as an idol will cause anxiety when you lose the position. You get the point.
Since my panic attack I’ve committed 1 Peter 5:6-7 to memory, especially verse 6. I must believe that God is so powerful, strong, vigilant, and aware that his mighty hand is strong enough to do what needs to be done to project, provide, and sustain me for his purposes, no matter what the external circumstance.
1 Peter 5:6-7
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
Soli Deo Gloria.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Thursday, November 5, 2009
How to Write and Teach a Bible Study
This is a document I put together for leaders of the Lifegroups of LCN from Grace Evangelical Free Church.
Why even have a prepared Bible Study ready?
There are some things about the Bible that can’t just be answered off the top of your head. Context, intent, background, author, and themes don’t just arise out of conversation. There is serious value to knowing and studying the Bible for your Lifegroup. We know that Jesus applied the Scriptures to memory when he taught and constantly referenced the Scriptures. The book of Hebrews is basically a cursory Bible study of the Old Testament. Besides this, the life of pursuit of Christ requires work, especially in the Scriptures. If Jesus had to learn, study, and memorize the Scriptures, you are probably not exempt. As a leader, you are developing your spiritual life when you write and teach a Bible study.
Preliminary Principles for Writing and Teaching a Bible Study
Every Bible study needs to be distinctively Christian, meaning it must ultimately get to Jesus. A good question to ask yourself is this: “If I did this study in a mosque, synagogue, Mormon Temple, an atheist convention, etc., would they kick me out?” If not, it’s not distinctively Christian. Luke 24: 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he [Jesus] interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
44 Then he said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled." 45Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,
Jesus studied, taught, and applied the Scriptures. His understanding of Scripture didn’t come off the top of his head and didn’t even arise out of cursory reading of Scripture. When Jesus was a boy in the temple his parents found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions (Luke 2:46).
You stand underneath the text. This means there is nothing you can add to the text to make it better or more relevant. Your job as a Bible study leader is to “open the Scriptures” so that your hearers are more aware of what the text is actually saying about Jesus and how that compels us to live life. A good idea would be to pray something like this before you start: “Lord Jesus, may you give me what God would have me communicate to my hearers and may I humbly stand underneath the Holy Word, knowing there is nothing I can add, but there is so much I can share through it.” 2 Tim 3:16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.
We as Christians don’t know how to live a life of good works without the Scriptures. Also, one of these “good works” that 2 Timothy and Ephesians 2 are talking about includes teaching, preaching and evangelism, all of which are done within a study of the Bible.
The Prep
First, if you are teaching a book of the Bible or just a passage of Scripture, it is important to have some idea who the author is, what the book is about, a little background, and things like these. This can be accomplished by simply reading the front few pages from a study Bible, like the NIV Study Bible or the ESV Study Bible. If you do not have access to these, it might be a good investment. Also, the LU Library has many resources including the ESV and NIV Study Bible. I would also be happy to scan the material and send it your way.
Once you have an idea about who the author is, why he wrote the book, and what the background is, then you are ready to get into the Text. Try to think of yourself as the recipient of the original letter. Try to come to the Text without preconceived notions. When you have picked out your book or passage, read it. And then re-read it. Then keep reading it, then read it in different translations. Then memorize it, then read it some more, then keep reading it. You get the idea. The goal of the Bible study leader is to lose yourself within the Text, that your ideas, thoughts, and self-fabricated notions would be drowned in the tide of God’s Word. Don’t read as if it were a newspaper or a magazine. Read it like you read letters from your significant other. Pine over every word. These sentences and phrases are the revelation from God that he intends his people to read for as long as there is a Church. Pay attention to the flow of thought, to any extra words or phrases, and to the eventual goal of the paragraph, chapter, or phrase. During this entire process you should be in prayerful, humble “listening mode” for the Holy Spirit to move you toward his explanation and application of the text.
Once you have had a good prayer-led soaking in Scripture, you are ready to open your notebook and begin to form your lesson. I suggest stepping through the Text chunk by chunk, explaining what the writer meant and what it now says to us. Remember, Scripture was written at a specific time for a specific people but is applicable for all times and all peoples. Explain each verse or part as best you can, and allow for the Holy Spirit to lead you to the parts of the Scripture that He wants to emphasize. It always surprises me how many people say the talk or study I gave about X was so helpful and insightful in the area of X, but my lesson was really about Y. The Holy Spirit does the opening of eyes and the convicting of hearts.
After you have explained chunk by chunk the Text, ask “What is this saying about God in Christ?” Try and ascertain what this Scripture is saying about Jesus. Once that has been discovered, the next question to ask is “What is our response to this?” This is the part where you “apply” the Text or call the hearers to action. You don’t have to explicitly ask these questions, but the underlying idea should be present in your explanation/lesson.
The Bible is written about Jesus to give his people a better picture of Him. It is the force of this picture that changes people. It is not necessarily the information about Christ but Christ himself that pushes one to act and live differently. Christ changes people, not information about Christ. I’ll try to explain. Have you ever had a friend, coach, significant other, teacher, or mentor that helped you overcome certain areas of sin in your life? Most likely it was not the information that they gave you that made you change. It was probably just them. You didn’t want to let them down, and this person painted such a picture of the blessed life of honoring Christ in area X that you could not help but be drawn to that life. It was they that compelled you. This is the same about Christ. When giving a Bible study, try to make Christ clearer, certainly. But even more so, try to make Christ more real. Make him really the Savior, really a man with real hands and feet that were pierced, really God come to earth, really a lover of all men, really raised from the dead, and really the One who is coming back again. Make real the God-honoring life of Jesus that gave God all the glory. This is an especially difficult task, but the Holy Spirit can do it.
When you are done with your Bible study, your hearers should have a clearer and realer picture of who Christ is and what that picture of Christ compels them toward. It’s all about Jesus.
A few closing thoughts
You will never be John Piper, Mark Fesmire, Mark Driscoll, or Beth Moore. You are you and God really did intend to give you the gifts that he has given you. If you feel like you kinda botched the delivery, don’t worry about it. It’s not so much about being effective, but being faithful. 1 Corinthians 1 26For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31so that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord." Right. None of us went to Harvard or Oxford. None of us are geniuses. We are not eloquent people. Just regular people. This means that we are specially poised to be used by God in the most magnificent ways.
If you are a Christian you have God on your side. If you humbling desire to make much of Christ by your Bible study you will be empowered by the Holy Spirit not to be eloquent or astute, but to be used specifically in the lives of those you are teaching. When you give a Bible study it is not because you love the people in your group so much. It is because you love Jesus Christ, he who became a man to die on the cross so that we can have life, part of that life being to teach from the Word of God. The reason you love the people in your group so much is because God in Christ loves them so much.
Preparing a Bible study is labor. I mean serious mental, emotional, and spiritual labor. But you are laboring for the Lord in building his kingdom and doing what he commands in the Great Commission.
When delivering your study, always be open to interjections, questions, interactions, and comments. This will give the group an opportunity to share things that they have learned in the past as well as helping them to stay engaged.
This entire process should not take any more than four hours start to finish. If you devote a solid 2-3 hours to creating your Bible study, know that you have been diligent and God will graciously provide the rest.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Eternal life is not just a string of pearls but a glass of orange juice
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 5:24 I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.
Eternal life is what we look toward, hope for, and will receive. We just have to hold on, grit our teeth, and hope for that final day when Jesus comes in the clouds to take us from this wrecked place to go to heaven and be forever disconnected with the life we now live. One day eternal life will be a reality, one day in the future when Jesus comes and destroys all and we are able to play eschatological Halo with all those despicable sinners. But until then…
This is not the Gospel, but this strain of thought will consistently run through the minds and hearts of Christians if we do not understand what Jesus means when he uses the term “eternal life.”
The pith of Jesus’ teachings is eternal life. It is what he came to enact, provide, do, and live. He came to give eternal life (Jn 10:28), and it flows from him as water (Jn 4:14). The phrase “eternal life” occurs 43 times in the New Testament (ESV) with many of the utterances from Jesus himself, most often connecting eternal life with salvation. Indeed, it is appropriate to equate salvation with eternal life. If we believe in Jesus we have eternal life. My question is this: What is so good about eternal life?
The idea of eternal life contains the notion of unending days, like an endless string of pearls with each pearl representing another day. It goes on forever and ever with no end. One after another, pearl after pearl, until (it would seem to me) that monotony becomes the order of the day. An endless string of pearls would seem to simply get old. This is looking at eternal life quantitatively (numbers). I do think Jesus intends for us to understand eternal life quantitatively but only as a second order. Jesus wants us to understand eternal life primarily qualitatively (good, bad, better, best, etc.).
We should look at eternal life first as qualitative life, as if the fullness of God’s life dwells within us. It does dwell within us for the Holy Spirit comes to live within each believer at salvation. The eternal life we are given is a new and better life, truly good news to humanity. Eternal life should first be seen not as an endless string of pearls, but as freshly squeezed orange juice.
If you are a Christian, Jesus changes you into something alive, for if you are saved by Jesus you are a new creation (2 Cor 5:17) and have crossed over from being dead to being truly alive (Jn 5:24). You now have life; you did not know real life before.
Think of this analogy. Before Jesus all I knew and experienced was drinking water from a sewer. Every day when I was thirsty I would go to the sewer and scoop up the liquid found within and drink that to satisfy my thirst. And, of course, it would make me sick but I knew no differently. I assumed that all drink tastes like that and would make me sick. But when I believed in Jesus he adopted me and took me into his house, and now He gives me real drink, a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. That first taste is the eternal life that Jesus is talking about. It would obviously be a radical pleasure. The next day (the next pearl on the string) Jesus gives me fresh iced water, pure and clean. Another radical experience. The next day he gives me apple juice, the next hot tea with honey, the next ginger ale, then next mango juice, then sweet tea, then cranberry juice, then cola, milk, hot chocolate, lemonade…
This is the eternal life Jesus came to give. Qualitative, then quantitative. And does not the endless string of pearls look so much more inviting?
Eternal life is a future reality, but it is also an immediate one. Jesus came to give life NOW, as well as in the future. It is both/and. Remember, Christianity is a religion of paradoxes.
Luke 18:29 And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, 30 who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.”
John 5:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life.
So, when we read of Jesus bringing eternal life, think first qualitatively, then quantitatively. And remember that eternal life is wherever Jesus is, for the only reason Heaven is not Hell is because Jesus is there. If you have Jesus, you have eternal life. If you do not, you relegate yourself to drink out of the same sewer day after day, and one day even that sewer will run dry and you will be left thirsty forever.
John 5:24 I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.
Eternal life is what we look toward, hope for, and will receive. We just have to hold on, grit our teeth, and hope for that final day when Jesus comes in the clouds to take us from this wrecked place to go to heaven and be forever disconnected with the life we now live. One day eternal life will be a reality, one day in the future when Jesus comes and destroys all and we are able to play eschatological Halo with all those despicable sinners. But until then…
This is not the Gospel, but this strain of thought will consistently run through the minds and hearts of Christians if we do not understand what Jesus means when he uses the term “eternal life.”
The pith of Jesus’ teachings is eternal life. It is what he came to enact, provide, do, and live. He came to give eternal life (Jn 10:28), and it flows from him as water (Jn 4:14). The phrase “eternal life” occurs 43 times in the New Testament (ESV) with many of the utterances from Jesus himself, most often connecting eternal life with salvation. Indeed, it is appropriate to equate salvation with eternal life. If we believe in Jesus we have eternal life. My question is this: What is so good about eternal life?
The idea of eternal life contains the notion of unending days, like an endless string of pearls with each pearl representing another day. It goes on forever and ever with no end. One after another, pearl after pearl, until (it would seem to me) that monotony becomes the order of the day. An endless string of pearls would seem to simply get old. This is looking at eternal life quantitatively (numbers). I do think Jesus intends for us to understand eternal life quantitatively but only as a second order. Jesus wants us to understand eternal life primarily qualitatively (good, bad, better, best, etc.).
We should look at eternal life first as qualitative life, as if the fullness of God’s life dwells within us. It does dwell within us for the Holy Spirit comes to live within each believer at salvation. The eternal life we are given is a new and better life, truly good news to humanity. Eternal life should first be seen not as an endless string of pearls, but as freshly squeezed orange juice.
If you are a Christian, Jesus changes you into something alive, for if you are saved by Jesus you are a new creation (2 Cor 5:17) and have crossed over from being dead to being truly alive (Jn 5:24). You now have life; you did not know real life before.
Think of this analogy. Before Jesus all I knew and experienced was drinking water from a sewer. Every day when I was thirsty I would go to the sewer and scoop up the liquid found within and drink that to satisfy my thirst. And, of course, it would make me sick but I knew no differently. I assumed that all drink tastes like that and would make me sick. But when I believed in Jesus he adopted me and took me into his house, and now He gives me real drink, a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. That first taste is the eternal life that Jesus is talking about. It would obviously be a radical pleasure. The next day (the next pearl on the string) Jesus gives me fresh iced water, pure and clean. Another radical experience. The next day he gives me apple juice, the next hot tea with honey, the next ginger ale, then next mango juice, then sweet tea, then cranberry juice, then cola, milk, hot chocolate, lemonade…
This is the eternal life Jesus came to give. Qualitative, then quantitative. And does not the endless string of pearls look so much more inviting?
Eternal life is a future reality, but it is also an immediate one. Jesus came to give life NOW, as well as in the future. It is both/and. Remember, Christianity is a religion of paradoxes.
Luke 18:29 And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, 30 who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.”
John 5:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life.
So, when we read of Jesus bringing eternal life, think first qualitatively, then quantitatively. And remember that eternal life is wherever Jesus is, for the only reason Heaven is not Hell is because Jesus is there. If you have Jesus, you have eternal life. If you do not, you relegate yourself to drink out of the same sewer day after day, and one day even that sewer will run dry and you will be left thirsty forever.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Book Review: The Next Christendom
The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity by Philip Jenkins
Rating: 4 ½ out of 5
For most of us the plight of Sub-Saharan Africa or Northern India rarely goes much past TV commercials or the occasional Time article. And often the explosive growth of Christianity in places like China and Tanzania is heard but never given thought. Jenkins gives an academic look into the social and spiritual changes that are taking place in the Southern Hemisphere. This research into the changing spiritual landscape is acute, balanced, and very practical, especially for globally minded Christians. He systematically goes through the changes that are taking place in the South and projects those changes into 2050, showing some serious opportunities and threats not only to Christianity but to the stability of humanity. He then shows the challenges of current trends and how Muslim and Christian zeal is intensifying, often on top of one another.
Anyone interested in global missions, humanitarianism, or simply want to know what the spiritual landscape will look like in forty years must read this book. Written from a Catholic perspective, this book enables the reader to come to grips with what Christianity is becoming: a non-Western, non-white, poor, and persecuted religion (which is probably a good thing). No longer will the Eastern Church or Western Church be the bastion of the message of Jesus, but it will be, as Jenkins has coined it, the “Third Church.”
If you pride yourself in being globally minded, a world traveler, or a humanitarian, know the facts. Read this book.
Soli Deo Gloria.
Rating: 4 ½ out of 5
For most of us the plight of Sub-Saharan Africa or Northern India rarely goes much past TV commercials or the occasional Time article. And often the explosive growth of Christianity in places like China and Tanzania is heard but never given thought. Jenkins gives an academic look into the social and spiritual changes that are taking place in the Southern Hemisphere. This research into the changing spiritual landscape is acute, balanced, and very practical, especially for globally minded Christians. He systematically goes through the changes that are taking place in the South and projects those changes into 2050, showing some serious opportunities and threats not only to Christianity but to the stability of humanity. He then shows the challenges of current trends and how Muslim and Christian zeal is intensifying, often on top of one another.
Anyone interested in global missions, humanitarianism, or simply want to know what the spiritual landscape will look like in forty years must read this book. Written from a Catholic perspective, this book enables the reader to come to grips with what Christianity is becoming: a non-Western, non-white, poor, and persecuted religion (which is probably a good thing). No longer will the Eastern Church or Western Church be the bastion of the message of Jesus, but it will be, as Jenkins has coined it, the “Third Church.”
If you pride yourself in being globally minded, a world traveler, or a humanitarian, know the facts. Read this book.
Soli Deo Gloria.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Why death is bad even for Christians
Something that has always unsettled me is when churches say they are having a “going home party” for an elderly person in their church that dies. It usually goes this way: “Well, Mrs. [fill in name of elderly saint here] went on home last night at the convalescent home. She served as a Sunday School teacher for 25 years, loved her husband, served her children, and was a great saint in the kingdom of God. We will be having a celebration of her homecoming Tuesday at 1pm in the fellowship hall. What a privilege it is to celebrate this.!”
When I hear something like this, that we should quell the emotions felt when someone dies, but I still have the feeling of discomfort and pain. I know she is with Jesus, but existentially I don’t like it. I have never lost someone dear to me, but even if a Christian friend of mine dies, I don’t think I will feel good knowing that he is in a “better place.” There is still pain.
Then someone brought to mind the familiar passage in John 11 when Jesus weeps. Jesus was obviously grieved at the death Lazarus. But why? He is Jesus. He knew he was going to raise Lazarus from the dead. But even if Jesus didn’t know, should not he been joyful because Lazarus was in heaven? Should not Jesus, instead of weeping, be breaking out the party hats and cake for a “going home party” for Lazarus? He didn’t. Jesus wept.
We need to remember that Jesus wept before he was at the tomb and at the tomb. John says that Jesus “had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him” when Mary came to him. Jesus was outside the city when he cried. So, it was not the sight of the tomb that invoked Jesus’ tears. It was the tears of Mary and Martha that stirred Jesus so.
Jesus then went inside the city. It say that Jesus “once more deeply moved, came to the tomb.” Jesus wept outside the gate with Mary and Martha and he was again “deeply moved” (aka wept) at the tomb. Was it because Jesus was still emotionally disrupted and just could not keep his tears in? The reason Jesus cried two separate times shows us two separate reasons why death is still bad, even for a Christian.
Before this is explained, let’s talk a little about God’s ideal. In the Garden of Eden we had a perfect relationship with God. It was God’s plan for the world. But God did give us Genesis 2:17: “but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” Therefore death was not an existential reality in Eden. People did not die and neither did animals, bugs, birds, etc. There was no death. God’s plan for the world was a deathless existence. But, due to Satan’s coazing, Eve plucked the fruit and Adam stood idly by, sin and death entered existence.
Rom. 5:12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned—
Jesus’ first crying episode was outside the city gate. He cried from seeing Mary and Martha grieve the death of Lazarus. Jesus cried because he knew the pain that is associated with death. When a Christian dies, all those around him grieve that person’s death. People hurt from the effects of death. Every time someone dies, people feel pain and grief. This process of death to pain to grief was not in God’s original plan.
Jesus’ second crying episode was outside the tomb of Lazarus. This is a little more enigmatic, for immediately after his crying Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. Why is Jesus still struggling with his emotions? It is for this reason: anyone in a tomb/casket/urn is a proclamation that, due to sin’s effect, God’s will is not fully done. The fact that Lazarus was dead in the tomb is Satan proclaiming his impact on God’s children and God’s world. Death is a portent and sign that God’s will is not fully done on earth. Death has lost its sting and its victory, but it still taunts.
Glorious Jesus died on the cross for you and me. He nullified death and Satan on the cross and gives us life by way of the empty tomb. Though death has no final victory it still has temporary victories. Paul says in 1 Cor 15:26 “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” That enemy has yet to be destroyed, for it still has the power to separate friends and family members, and death still taunts God. Satan knows he has no hope, Death knows he will be destroyed. It is like a man on the executioner table taunting the executioner.
The assurance we do have is that Jesus will come again for those dead and those still living. I Cor 15:52 “For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.” When Jesus comes again we will be deathproof, just like God originally made it.
Jesus shows us that death is bad because: 1) it causes pain in God’s children, and 2) it is a proclamation of sin.
So, when your grandmother dies, know that the sad feelings you have are right and good. For though you will be reunited with your grandmother in eternity and Jesus did defeat death and sin, death is still bad, even for a Christian.
Soli Deo Gloria.
When I hear something like this, that we should quell the emotions felt when someone dies, but I still have the feeling of discomfort and pain. I know she is with Jesus, but existentially I don’t like it. I have never lost someone dear to me, but even if a Christian friend of mine dies, I don’t think I will feel good knowing that he is in a “better place.” There is still pain.
Then someone brought to mind the familiar passage in John 11 when Jesus weeps. Jesus was obviously grieved at the death Lazarus. But why? He is Jesus. He knew he was going to raise Lazarus from the dead. But even if Jesus didn’t know, should not he been joyful because Lazarus was in heaven? Should not Jesus, instead of weeping, be breaking out the party hats and cake for a “going home party” for Lazarus? He didn’t. Jesus wept.
We need to remember that Jesus wept before he was at the tomb and at the tomb. John says that Jesus “had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him” when Mary came to him. Jesus was outside the city when he cried. So, it was not the sight of the tomb that invoked Jesus’ tears. It was the tears of Mary and Martha that stirred Jesus so.
Jesus then went inside the city. It say that Jesus “once more deeply moved, came to the tomb.” Jesus wept outside the gate with Mary and Martha and he was again “deeply moved” (aka wept) at the tomb. Was it because Jesus was still emotionally disrupted and just could not keep his tears in? The reason Jesus cried two separate times shows us two separate reasons why death is still bad, even for a Christian.
Before this is explained, let’s talk a little about God’s ideal. In the Garden of Eden we had a perfect relationship with God. It was God’s plan for the world. But God did give us Genesis 2:17: “but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” Therefore death was not an existential reality in Eden. People did not die and neither did animals, bugs, birds, etc. There was no death. God’s plan for the world was a deathless existence. But, due to Satan’s coazing, Eve plucked the fruit and Adam stood idly by, sin and death entered existence.
Rom. 5:12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned—
Jesus’ first crying episode was outside the city gate. He cried from seeing Mary and Martha grieve the death of Lazarus. Jesus cried because he knew the pain that is associated with death. When a Christian dies, all those around him grieve that person’s death. People hurt from the effects of death. Every time someone dies, people feel pain and grief. This process of death to pain to grief was not in God’s original plan.
Jesus’ second crying episode was outside the tomb of Lazarus. This is a little more enigmatic, for immediately after his crying Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. Why is Jesus still struggling with his emotions? It is for this reason: anyone in a tomb/casket/urn is a proclamation that, due to sin’s effect, God’s will is not fully done. The fact that Lazarus was dead in the tomb is Satan proclaiming his impact on God’s children and God’s world. Death is a portent and sign that God’s will is not fully done on earth. Death has lost its sting and its victory, but it still taunts.
Glorious Jesus died on the cross for you and me. He nullified death and Satan on the cross and gives us life by way of the empty tomb. Though death has no final victory it still has temporary victories. Paul says in 1 Cor 15:26 “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” That enemy has yet to be destroyed, for it still has the power to separate friends and family members, and death still taunts God. Satan knows he has no hope, Death knows he will be destroyed. It is like a man on the executioner table taunting the executioner.
The assurance we do have is that Jesus will come again for those dead and those still living. I Cor 15:52 “For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.” When Jesus comes again we will be deathproof, just like God originally made it.
Jesus shows us that death is bad because: 1) it causes pain in God’s children, and 2) it is a proclamation of sin.
So, when your grandmother dies, know that the sad feelings you have are right and good. For though you will be reunited with your grandmother in eternity and Jesus did defeat death and sin, death is still bad, even for a Christian.
Soli Deo Gloria.
Monday, November 12, 2007
God, the mentally handicapped, and the spiritually handicapped
For me, the greatest apology (or defense) against the existence of a good and benevolent creator God is mentally handicapped people. Often I can understand when evil things happen to “moral” people because everyone sins all the time and it is simply God’s prerogative upon when to punish anyone or allow the consequences of sin to come to them. What really gets to me is when I see someone that, before they were even born, is experiencing the effects of sin. Before sin there was never mentally handicapped people. These individuals did nothing to deserve the mental state that they are born into. They had yet to be born (and certainly not sin), but the effects of the Fall and/or the sin of the parents changed forever this person’s future.
I remember the time when this idea came to a pinnacle for me while eating at the Rot by myself. I got my food and went to the back of the Rot so as not to be bothered or notice. I found a place to sit which happened to be next to a group of Rot workers, and recognized a mentally handicapped woman at one of the tables (I think her job is to clean off the table when the students leave). She was weeping on the shoulder of her friend about something I did not know. She was absolutely weeping, rended from the sorrow, and I thought, “God, give her a break. You allowed her to be born mentally handicapped, the least you could do is give her a pleasant life.”
I began thinking of the things this woman would never experience. Things like getting a diploma from high school, having a “good” job, turning in a great paper, dating, accomplishing anything of significance, getting a driver’s license, understanding the social nuances, and so many other things. With a mind of a child what could she do? Why, if God is benevolent, would he allow things like this to happen to someone so undeserving? It’s not her fault that she is what she is.
Then God the Holy Spirit, as he does from time to time, showed me my handicap, the handicap of sin. The things I thought she was missing out on could just as easily for me been selfish ambition or vain conceit. I was looking at God through what I thought was good, right, and fair (which is never good, right, nor fair). God the Holy Spirit brought passages to mind like:
Matthew 5
“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
And also Isaiah 55
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
And also Matthew 18.
And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Then I began to think, “Is her state actually better than the one I am in?” I don’t think that is the case, but I do think that Jesus can redeem her metal incapacity. She certainly has the ability, and probably is, a much better Christian than I am. My mental state leads me to a spiritually handicapped state of arrogance, hubris, self-sufficiency, etc. Hers, thank God, does not.
So, God is loving and benevolent even if I don’t immediately notice it. And the same with those that do not notice the love and benevolence found upon the cross of Jesus. It is through the physical state he was in that he may redeem her mental state and my spiritual state for now and eternity.
Soli Deo Gloria.
I remember the time when this idea came to a pinnacle for me while eating at the Rot by myself. I got my food and went to the back of the Rot so as not to be bothered or notice. I found a place to sit which happened to be next to a group of Rot workers, and recognized a mentally handicapped woman at one of the tables (I think her job is to clean off the table when the students leave). She was weeping on the shoulder of her friend about something I did not know. She was absolutely weeping, rended from the sorrow, and I thought, “God, give her a break. You allowed her to be born mentally handicapped, the least you could do is give her a pleasant life.”
I began thinking of the things this woman would never experience. Things like getting a diploma from high school, having a “good” job, turning in a great paper, dating, accomplishing anything of significance, getting a driver’s license, understanding the social nuances, and so many other things. With a mind of a child what could she do? Why, if God is benevolent, would he allow things like this to happen to someone so undeserving? It’s not her fault that she is what she is.
Then God the Holy Spirit, as he does from time to time, showed me my handicap, the handicap of sin. The things I thought she was missing out on could just as easily for me been selfish ambition or vain conceit. I was looking at God through what I thought was good, right, and fair (which is never good, right, nor fair). God the Holy Spirit brought passages to mind like:
Matthew 5
“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
And also Isaiah 55
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
And also Matthew 18.
And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Then I began to think, “Is her state actually better than the one I am in?” I don’t think that is the case, but I do think that Jesus can redeem her metal incapacity. She certainly has the ability, and probably is, a much better Christian than I am. My mental state leads me to a spiritually handicapped state of arrogance, hubris, self-sufficiency, etc. Hers, thank God, does not.
So, God is loving and benevolent even if I don’t immediately notice it. And the same with those that do not notice the love and benevolence found upon the cross of Jesus. It is through the physical state he was in that he may redeem her mental state and my spiritual state for now and eternity.
Soli Deo Gloria.
Anecdotes from Karl Barth
Many people do not recognize the name Karl Barth (I didn’t a year ago), but he was the most influential theologian of the 20th century, and possibly since Calvin. His work was unparalleled, for he single-handedly halted the progress of classic liberal theology. Here are a few anecdotes from his work.
Concerning Our Work as Christians
Every morning Karl Barth would wake up, read the newspaper, and stare at a painting by Grunewald called “Crucifixion”. The picture on the note is that painting. Jesus is hanging from the cross, apparently dead, while Mary and others morn. John the Baptist, holding the Scriptures and leaning away from Christ, is pointing to Jesus on the Cross. Before he would teach theology or write in his famous work Church Dogmatics, Barth would meditate on this painting, particularly on John the Baptist. He said that, as Christians (whether a theologian, pastor, teacher, mother, doctor, store keeper, etc.), our job is to be the finger (and only the finger) of John the Baptist. The only thing we should do; indeed, the only thing we can do is simply point to Jesus on the cross. This scene painted by Grunewald is the sum of all history, from Creation in the past to eternity. And we are that finger, and within that finger rests the weight of salvation.
Concerning Salvation
The Late 18th and early into the 19th century Classic Liberalism was at its peak form. Optimism in theology and life was very prevalent (this, of course, was before WWI). The idea that God is our Father and that every person, regardless of their view of Jesus, was a child of God. “All roads lead up the mountain to God” was a popular mantra recited then. Just pick a path, and it will get you to God was the modus operendi, but Barth disagreed.
Barth purported that not all roads lead up the mountain to God. In fact, there are no roads up the mountain. Not just that, but there is no mountain. We CANNOT get to God. That is why God comes down to us. It is not “us with God”, but Immanuel, “God with us”, in the form of Jesus Christ, the perfect God-man, come to save degenerate sinners such as ourselves by death on the cross to bring us eventually to God.
Soli Deo Gloria.
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